It Takes a Thief
by DKGWrites
Summary: A local museum hires El Mayarah, one of the nations foremost security firms, to test their security. As Kara reviews the museum's security measures, someone else pays the museum a visit. Crime ensues.


With nearly 12,000 square meters of display space, the National City Museum of Art (NCMOA) is one of the top attractions on a rainy day, though those are few and far between. With sections ranging from Realism to Surrealism, from Renaissance to Modern art, NCMOA has something for every art lover. On this clear night, the museum is running a security check on its newly installed Renaissance exhibit which includes works by Michelangelo, Raphael, and da Vinci and is on loan from another museum. In two nights, some of the local area elite will be present to enjoy the art at a grand gala and, hopefully, open their wallets for patronship.

Her arms crossed and brows furrowed, Kara Danvers stands behind the team sitting at the security desk while they talk her through their system. Hiring her firm, El Mayarah, to review security is one of the conditions of getting the paintings on loan. Their insurance company has been insistent. El Mayarah has a reputation for finding holes in security that other firms miss.

"We have one security guard per floor, and they canvas their entire area once every twenty-four minutes. Each section within a floor is locked and only openable with a security badge. As a guard comes on shift, they pick up their badge here in central control. The badges never leave the building. The motion sensors on each section remain active until a security guard enters the area, and they reactivate once the badge is swiped in to deactivate the next section."

"Do the security guards ever change their patterns?" Kara asks.

"No, we've established patterns that will fully explore each floor in the minimum timeframe."

Kara frowns, running her hand through her short hair. "Go on."

"As I said, there are motion detectors in every section and—"

"And in the hallways?"

"Well… no, but they are on either side of the hallways where the art is displayed. Someone could march up and down the hallway, but as soon as they enter a section with art, the alarms would go off."

"Any blind spots in your security cameras?"

"Sure every security has blind spots, but it's not like we tell people where they are. Plus the art is all covered."

Kara doesn't respond, just opens and closes her tie clip and adjusts her tie.

At Kara's silence, the security guard adds, "All of the artwork is alarmed, and the paintings are attached to the walls with T-lock security frames. You need a special wrench to get them off the wall, and as soon as the locking mechanism slides back, the alarm will go off. Each painting has a separate alarm. No one is getting any of those babies off the wall."

Kara rests her hands on her hips and continues to study the displays from the security cameras. "Anything unusual happen here in the past two weeks?"

"No, not really."

"Not really or no?"

"Well, when we had an alarm malfunction earlier this week. It kept going off for no reason. Our electrical contractor came in and fixed it. She said it was just a short. It's been reading in the green ever since."

"Your contractor is a woman?"

"This time, yeah. We contract with a major company that's licensed to work on museums and municipal buildings. We get different people almost every time."

Kara raises her eyebrows. "And did you recognize this woman?"

"Nah, she had an accent, from Metropolis I think. Oh, and she had this hairy wart on her cheek." The guard shudders. "That was memorable."

"Right, that's what you remember about her."

"Wait, does that matter?"

"I guess we'll find out."

It's about five minutes later when the first alarm goes off. It's on the first floor and as far from the guard on duty as possible. Seconds later a second alarm sounds, and then a third, and then a fourth. Soon there are multiple alarms on every level. Then the security camera feeds die. A few minutes later, as the guard in the central command shouts orders to his men, Kara just exhales slowly and heads to leave the room.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"To see the damage that's been done. You can call off your men. By now, it's too late."

Kara heads down to the new section pausing in the hallway at the rope hanging from where a ceiling panel has been removed. As she shines her light above, she can see into the air duct that's been cut open. In the room, she's drawn to a mechanical noise. She walks around a corner and sighs as she shines a light on the floor.

"A Roomba. Well, that's… different." Her search of the room reveals nothing else except some pieces of twine which have been tied and then cut apart.

"She didn't."

Kara shines her flashlight around the room, illuminating several paintings until she pauses and runs the light slowly across several to reveal three in a row that aren't on the museum's list of Renaissance art for display. They are: Crying Clown, Elvis, and Dogs Playing Poker… all on black velvet.

Kara sighs. "She did."

Lena is sipping a glass of wine, her ivory skin illuminated by the firelight when there's a thud on the balcony. She smiles and raises her glass for examination, the blood red of her lipstick making a clear imprint even in the dim lighting. As a breeze blows through the open balcony doorway, Lena pulls her bathrobe closed with one hand.

"The jig is up, Luthor. Are you coming in quietly, or does this have to get physical?"

Lena stands and turns to face the intruder. Kara's wearing black, her hair attractively rumpled from the hood she's just pulled down. There's a harness on her torso, also black, and she's pulling off gloves one finger at a time while she peers intently at Lena.

"Well," Lena smirks, "you know I never **come** quietly."

Kara sighs and rolls her eyes. "You always have to be difficult, don't you?"

"Based on past experience? Yes."

Two paintings sit on the carpeting, leaning against the wall, and another hangs above them. "You hung one of the paintings already? That was fast."

"Well, I always have been partial to da Vinci." Lena turns her attention from Kara and instead studies the painting. "She's beautiful, isn't she?"

"She truly is," Kara replies, her gaze still firmly planted on Lena. "Tell me how you did it. I know you used the Roombas to set off the motions detectors around the museum, and I know you got yourself in and out through the ceiling air ducts. How did you get the Roombas in there?"

"Base-level hot air vents in the hallways and a little programming so that the Roombas all headed for secured areas."

"How did you get the paintings off the walls without setting off alarms?"

"Oh, I rewired the alarms in question days ago. You see, as a licensed commercial electrician—"

"You're not a licensed electrician."

As her smile grows, Lena shrugs. "I was able to pull prior licenses needed for electrical work on the museum. It was a minor feat to short circuit one and hijack the call when the museum called in their electricians."

"You wore a mole?"

"Tell me anyone remembers anything about me but that God-awful mole."

Kara sighs. "Your hair was different in every description I got."

"I had multiple wigs in my bag."

"You're a mastermind, you know that?"

"You're too kind."

"A criminal mastermind."

"Oh, that's less kind." Lena takes a final swallow of her wine and places the glass on the table. "So, are you planning on cuffing me?"

"I'm thinking about it."

"Think about this." Dropping her arms to her sides, Lena allows the bathrobe to fall away and pool around her feet. Underneath she wears a dark green negligee. It's silk with white lace trim, and it's cut deep and wide around the cleavage leaving little to the imagination. It stops around mid-thigh and shows more skin than it conceals.

Grunting, Kara clenches her hands into fists and squeezes her eyes closed. "Killing. Me."

Lena approaches, running her hands up and over Kara's shoulders. "Yes, darling, but what a way to go."

With a growl deep in the back of the throat, Kara grabs Lena by the waist and rushes forward until Lena collides with the wall. Kara rains kisses on Lena's neck, teeth nipping at that pale throat. After the initial startled reaction, Lena just pulls Kara in even closer, fingers fisted in blonde hair and nails scratching the short hairs at the back of her neck. Kara reaches down, grabbing Lena by the thighs and hiking the woman up over her hips. With a continued press of their bodies, Kara holds Lena in place while they kiss soundly for several moments. Finally breathless, Kara pulls her head back, staring into emerald eyes.

Breasts heaving with excitement and a lack of oxygen, Lena asks, "And what do you think you're doing?"

"Pinning the art to the wall," Kara replies with a cocky smile.

They stare into each other's eyes for several moments before they both breakdown into a fit of giggles. Kara allows Lena to slide down the wall until the other woman's feet touch the carpet again. When Lena regains herself and pushes Kara away, the blonde retreats slightly, but her smile never wavers.

"God, I can't believe you're still using that line."

"Because it still works," Kara replies and presses a gentler kiss to Lena's lips. "It worked the first time I caught you, and it still works today."

"The **only** time you caught me," Lena corrects. "Anyway, I wanted to be caught."

"Sure, keep telling yourself that." Kara picks up the wine bottle from the table and refills Lena's glass, taking a swallow.

Lena steps up behind Kara, running her hands over Kara's abdomen. "Darling, if I didn't want to be caught, would I still be here four years later?"

Still in Lena's grip, Kara turns and plants a kiss on the other woman's lips. "I'd like to think you were tamed by my considerable charms."

"Tamed?!" Lena throws her head back and laughs, a throaty sound that bounces off the walls. She gestures at the new painting on the wall. "Does that look tamed to you?"

"That looks highly illegal. We need to take those back to the museum, you know."

"That sounds boring." She reaches out, playing with the buckles on Kara harness. "I didn't hear a helicopter. From what did you repel?"

"The roof. I crossed on a zip line from the adjoining roof."

"Don't you think that's a little excessive? You could have just used your key. It's your apartment too."

"After the heist you just pulled, you deserved something special. The museum will definitely be hiring us to upgrade their security now." As she holds Lena in her arms and they both stare at the painting on the wall, Kara asks, "Do you miss it? Do you miss the high stakes of art heists, the excitement? Do you ever wish you hadn't gone legit and married me?"

"Darling," Lena turns, embracing Kara and pressing a gentle kiss to her wife's lips, "I've got all the excitement I can handle here at home. Anyway, you're the real thief in this relationship."

"How do you figure that?"

"Simple." Lena smiles. "You stole my heart."


End file.
